Peter Abelard

Peter Abelard (1079-21 April 1142) was a French scholastic philosopher, theologian, and logician. He was legendary for his love affair with Heloise, a nun and fellow scholar.

Biography
Peter Abelard was born in Le Pallet, Brittany, Kingdom of France in 1079 to a minor noble French family. He studied dialectic philosophy, learning the logic of Aristotle before becoming an academic. He was taught by the nominalist Roscellinus, and he travelled to Paris in 1100, studying at the cathedral school of Notre Dame. Abelard was initially friends with his teacher, William of Champeaux, but Champeaux came to hate Abelard for his arrogance, and the two became rivals. Abelard became a famous teacher of philosophy at the cathedral school of Notre Dame, and also as a champion of reason, at a time when academics are required to observe chastity. He fell in love with one of his students, Heloise d'Argenteuil, a sixteen-year-old gentlewoman raised in a convent, who had both intellectual curiosity and a rebellious view of the low status of women in 12th century Europe. When their illicit relationship was suspected, Heloise's uncle Fulbert, who had other plans for her marriage, worked with the bishop of Paris to put a stop to it. Nevertheless, Abelard and Heloise had a child together and later were secretly married. Abelard faced a struggle with himself for acting against the will of God and yet loving Heloise too. Her uncle took a terrible revenge on Abelard for ruining Heloise's chance of a rich husband, with Abelard being castrated by Fulbert's henchmen. He became a monk at a monastery in St. Denis, and he focused on philosophy. He died in an abbey in Chalon-sur-Saone in 1142 at the age of 62.